Blagojevich on Leadership Communication

Blagojevich’s actions yesterday reminded me of when I was a child. When I ate some candy that I knew I wasn’t supposed to. When my parents found out and I would deny, deny, deny even though I still had purple sugar stuck to my fingertips.

His desperate attempt to speak to the public to me looked…well, desperate. It didn’t dawn on me that other people didn’t dissect his language like I did (possibly because I’m a communication major). It didn’t dawn on me until my boyfriend said “I was beginning to feel sorry for the guy.” Oh, the power of rhetoric. I wonder did my brother and sister feel bad for me when I went and pleaded to my mother. I remember consistently telling her I had been falsely accused, because dad just had it out for me.

Anyhow, I felt compelled to listen to his final address to the press after he was thrown out. One reporter asked him “…what do you have to say to the people who still believed in you?”

Blagojevich took a moment and finally said “My father was an immigrant…”

Now, aside from the fact that it didn’t even come close to acknowledging the question, it reminded me of Giuliani’s farewell speech in 2001. He also talks about his father (much like most other people in America) being an immigrant.

Giuliani also had an interview with Barbara Walters where she asks about his divorce and his new roommate. Giuliani tells Barbara Walters that governors are normal people too. That Governors sometimes have to stay with their gay roommate, their roommate’s partner, and dog.

This sparked a long train of thought about leadership communication.


Why is it that our political leaders constantly want to tell us that they are ‘just like us?’ And why do we embrace that? I mean when it came down to it, really… none of us would have voted for Joe “The Plumber”, right?

Honestly, I’m voting for them, because I think they're more capable of running things than not only their opponent, but also ME! Anyways…this is just a random thought process. Obviously, Blagojevich’s rhetoric wasn’t all that impressive (59-0).

Blagojevich, Maybe you actually are a lot more like a good percentage of the population than you thought…unemployed.